Binance Charity, a blockchain-enabled transparent donation platform, has partnered with Code to Inspire to provide tech education and support to 100 young women in Afghanistan, who have lost their jobs as a result of the Taliban takeover.
On 15 August 2021 Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan, promising to respect women’s rights to continue going to school and work. However, evidence and reports from Afghans on the ground shows that Taliban’s policy hasn’t changed regarding women’s activities outside home from what they implemented in the ’90s. This means many women are unable to continue education or work, which has led to families, especially where women were the main breadwinners, facing financial crisis.
According to data collected by Code to Inspire, the average monthly living cost in Afghanistan is around $200 per month. This project with Binance Charity will provide students and their families (average of five people per family) with this monthly support to pay rent and medical bills, purchase food and Internet, whilst being able to study.
TECH EDUCATION FOR WOMEN
“It is hard to fathom, in 2021, that many countries still have huge women’s rights abuses. To make matters worse, women in Afghanistan began the year living in a very different reality with a very different future to what they now face,” commented Helen Hai, Head of Binance Charity and NFT. “We feel inspired to be working with Fereshteh and her colleagues at Code to Inspire. “Women empowerment is a cause very close to our hearts at Binance Charity; which is driven by a female strong team.”
Binance Charity will open Trust Wallets for each student, to which BUSD – a stable coin pegged with USD – will be directly transferred. Students can convert BUSD to local currency at local money exchanges. This will help overcome financial inclusion barriers these young women are facing; such as banks not operating normally or even not having a bank account.
EMPOWERING GIRLS IN TECH
The first batch of students selected were previous breadwinners of their families, who subsequently lost their jobs due to the Taliban takeover. The women are aged between 18-25, Afghanistan citizens or residents and have enrolled in an approved school coding education institution as a full-time student.
“Knowledge is power and technology is the tool for this empowerment. That’s what enabled me, born as a refugee, grow to omit geographical boundaries and become a digital citizen of the world. It helps to bridge gender, social, economic and digital divides by providing free and equal resources to girls in Afghanistan through technology education; enabling them to work remotely and receive payment directly through cryptocurrency,” explained Fereshteh Forough, Founder and CEO of Code to Inspire. “Investing in girls’ education enables them to participate in society; and enter the job market with confidence, become decision makers in the family and live a healthier life with less violence towards them. At Code to Inspire, we are building Afghanistan 2.0 where women are the change makers!”
Code to Inspire, a US-based nonprofit is on a mission to empower young women in Afghanistan to drive economic and social progress, by employing local mentors to teach code; help find programming jobs; and offer guidance in building digital careers and entrepreneurship.
Microsoft partnered with non-profit social enterprise Tech4Dev earlier this year to empower millions of girls and women across Africa with tech and coding skills. Click here to read more.
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